A journey down the River Stix: The flirtatious dances of fascism
By Michael Moriarty
web posted August 8, 2005
Benito Mussolini is still viewed as an appendage to Hitler. His
own personal dreams and ambitions are vaguely described in
seldom-read histories. I recently made a new acquaintance – a
Slavic adventurer who documents war areas in Africa with his
camera… loves all the near-death experiences… speaks an
eloquent British… yeah, a real star type. At any rate, I tried to
pin down his politics and eventually he said that if pushed, he'd
be a fascist.
Gee…that's interesting, right? What is a fascist? Well, it's
symbolized by a Roman emblem of wheat, I guess, or straw, tied
together. Unity. Italian unity. Searching for that, Mussolini made
Catholicism the state religion. Unfortunately, Pope Pius XII fell
for the bribe of increased power and had to keep up his side of
the bargain, which of course was to never excommunicate Nazis
or Fascists for murdering Jews.
So, what is Fascism but Hitler as a better careerist and
opportunist? Mussolini saved the Fuhrer's bloody paintbrush
with that deal in Rome. The Pope, if he'd had any courage, could
have quickly ended the Third Reich with a little
excommunication. Pius XII and the Archbishop of Canterbury
could still save Ireland a lot of death by doing the same thing:
"You are not a Christian and hardly a Catholic if you bomb your
Irish brothers. You're out of heaven now, if you do! Certainly
not allowed at the Holy Communion rail."
Heavy hangs the head that wears the divine crowns and sits in
the cathedral. You want the job, you'd better pay the price. St.
Peter did. So have a few other Christians since then. Not these
days, though.
Fascism. Unity through backroom deals and terrorism. Brown
shirts. Gestapo police. Add consent to genocide and you have
Benito Mussolini.
The following is taken from an Enter Stage Right article about
Rudolph Giuliani:
"Brooks says that a courageous politician shies away from social
questions, but that's hogwash. John McCain is anti-abortion and
supports the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And
Giuliani doesn't shy away from such questions either. He is
enthusiastically opposed to respecting American citizens' Second
Amendment rights, and supports gay rights, women's right to
abortion, and the rights of illegal immigrants."
The author of this basically pro-Giuliani profile, Nicholas Stix,
never lived under Giuliani's shining years as mayor. If he did, then
he never read Bob Herbert of The New York Times. When the
New York Police Department so quickly begins to turn into the
Los Angeles Police Department and horror stories of summary
executions in Spanish Harlem are listed and the whole series
culminates in the torture of a Haitian immigrant in the basement
toilet of an NYPD precinct house, well, you have a policy not
entirely ordered by the Police Commissioner. You have a
Mussolini somewhere in there. Since
motive is the first question about crime, who benefited from the
miraculous drop in crime? Mayor Giuliani did.
The only plus side was the revelation of New York liberal
hypocrisy at its worst. There were no protests about the evolving
tyranny until the cops beat up a young Orthodox Jewish man.
Only then was a parade organized, with Al Sharpton at the head
and the rabbis right behind him.
Liberal ladies, so enamored of the Mayor, shouted at the police,
insulted them. Later, at a Puerto Rican Day parade, the police
just let the local Spanish men fondle and "feel up" these so
conveniently angry ladies. The cops didn't lift a finger to help.
Well, they'd gone to Giuliani for a pay raise to be compensated
for becoming criminals with badges and lowering the crime rate
and Giuliani basically said, "What? And raise the budget? That's
my re-election war chest. You're just lucky my judges and court
kept you out of jail."
Gee, thanks, Mayor Rudy.
As for Stix's opinion of Giuliani's mayoralty: Well, if beating a
Haitian, pushing a nightstick up his rectum and then down his
throat is "pro-illegal alien," I'm a bit confused. So there's the lie
to that. As for his pro-abortion views and desire to keep guns
out of the hands of citizens, I have no doubt this little Mussolini is
all for it. How Stix could label Giuliani as "Mr. Courage" after his
shameless exploitation of the 9/11 tragedy is way beyond me.
It's a real Latin American appetite that ends up giving the world
Mussolinis on both sides of the political aisle: witness Cuba's
Fidel Castro and Chile's Augusto Pinochet. Congratulations, sir.
Your name doesn't sound the least bit Mediterranean and
perhaps that's the reason why you really don't know the price for
dreaming of Mr. Strongman.
So, the Giuliani glances toward the Oval Office are the classic
Flirtatious Dances of Fascism. This philosophy never really hits
center stage. However, with Bill Clinton expected to sign on as
Secretary General of the United Nations, his fascist sidekick as
President of the United States might just fill in the missing pieces
to this ever-flowering Fourth Reich, this veritable Great Abortion
Wall of China, this Dam Against the Waters of Life Itself.
Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning
actor who has appeared in the landmark television series Law
and Order, the mini-series Taken, the TV-movie The 4400 and
Hitler Meets Christ, a surreal tragicomedy based on the actor's
controversial New York stage play.
Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com